Wheelchairs are commonly used by people who are unable to walk. The typical wheelchair has a tubular metal frame with large rear wheels at each side and smaller front wheels which swivel. The frame is formed by a combination of elements, commonly referred to as “canes” that are connected together at various angles. In its simplest form, the seat of the wheelchair comprises a sheet of material which is hung between two spaced apart horizontal canes and a similar vertical sheet of material that is strung between two vertical rear canes to form the seat back. The wheelchair frame also has a pair of left and right hanger canes that extend downward and forward from the two horizontal seat canes and terminate in supports for the wheelchair occupant's feet.
Some wheelchair occupants lack sufficient leg muscle control to retain their legs in the proper position when seated. As a consequence, the occupant's legs often flop outward and, with the knees spread part in this manner, the occupant may slide forward in the chair.
For such people, lateral knee supports or knee adductors are frequently attached to the left and right hanger canes to restrain the legs from spreading apart and to maintain the person in the proper seated position in the wheelchair. A skilled medical person often initially positions the knee pads to provide adequate restraint and to also be comfortable to the wheelchair occupant.
Nevertheless, in some situations, the knee supports can interfere with the ability of the person to enter and leave the wheelchair and the supports may have to be removed or at least moved outward at those times. Thereafter, the knee supports usually have to be properly repositioned by a skilled medical person. In many situations, however, skilled medical personnel are not available, such as when the wheelchair is being used at home or elsewhere away from a medical facility. On those occasions, an unskilled caregiver assisting the wheelchair occupant may not restore the knee supports to the proper position or might even forget to reattach them to the chair. Other types of supports, such as for the head of the wheelchair occupant, also have similar adjustment requirements.
One potential bracket solving these problems is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,573,549 to Adaptive Engineering Lab, Inc. and is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. In U.S. Pat. No. 8,573,549, a multi-part bracket is disclosed in which two bracket halves may be temporarily separated from one another, but remain in loose connection with one another via a central linkage. The separation of the bracket halves enables a support pad attached to one of the halves to be temporarily swung freely away from the other bracket half which is mounted to the chair. However, the bracket also accommodates the precise repositioning of the support to its original position and configuration upon the re-engagement and fixture of the bracket halves directly to one another.